On the Plane: Carseats
Should You Use a Car Seat On the Plane?
Yes.
Many times airlines will allow you to hold an infant (usually up to age two but check with your particular carrier) on your lap and not charge you (they may charge a small administrative fee).
However, before you spend the money you’ll save by holding your child, think carefully about twelve hours crossing the Pacific with a kid on top of you—no sleeping or meal time relaxing for you!
More importantly, there is a safety issue. One reader, whose spouse is a flight attendant, wrote to say:
“I fly a lot with my two daughters and we will only fly if our daughter (first the oldest, now the youngest) has her own seat so she can be in her car seat. I realize it’s expensive, but the safety factor cannot be stressed enough. As for seatbelt extenders, planes carry them for large passengers but they are not legal for use around parent/child combinations in the U.S. anyway). If you were thrown forward against the belt, you could crush your child.” (Thanks Lisa!)
While current U.S. law does not require a carseat for an infant in flight, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration does recommend the use of one (there is legislation banging around Washington to require car seats or some type of safe restraint for small children on planes).
The Associated Press carried a story recently stating that the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) wants the federal government to order airlines to end the long-standing policy of allowing children under age 2 to sit on their parents’ laps, especially during takeoffs, landings and turbulence.
The Academy noted that a 1996 White House commission report said the FAA should require restraints for all infants and children less than 40 inches and weighing less than 40 pounds. The proposed policy says infants and children weighing less than 20 pounds should be placed in rear-facing, aircraft-approved safety seats and those over 1 and weighing 20 to 40 pounds should fly in forward-facing seats.
Specifically, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recommends that children be securely fastened in child safety seats until 4 years of age, then be secured with the airplane seat belts. This will help keep them safe during takeoff and landing, or in case of turbulence. Most infant, convertible, and forward-facing seats are certified to be used on airplanes. Booster seats and travel vests are not. Check the label on your seat and call the airline before you travel to be sure your seat meets current FAA regulations.
Recent changes to FAA regulations prohibit the use of any type of booster seat on board an airplane even if the booster is labeled as being certified for use on airplanes. Airlines are not required to allow the use of certified seats, however. You may have to purchase a ticket to assure a seat for a child under age two or travel on low-occupancy flights. Make arrangements in advance with the airline, and get written confirmation of their approval for use of your seat on the flight.
The nice folks at Carseat.org had these additional tips to share:
“Our position is clear: use safety seats aboard on every trip until the child can’t fit into safety seat with a full harness. Safety seats in baggage are lost or damaged (often in a hidden manner, unsuspected) too often to take a chance. Rental seats at the other end are often in bad shape, don’t fit the vehicle, and are missing instructions or parts.
“We also recommend keeping the child rear-facing longer on aircraft than even in the car since the distance between seat rows is so limited and the FAA data show that the best performance occurs with rear-facing seats (true in cars, too, of course).
In addition to the safety issues (as if you needed more convincing by now), when our kids were younger the car seat made them feel more at home on the plane, with its familiar stains and odors (on the car seat). With a towel rolled up and stuck around their heads in a “U” shape in the seat, their heads stayed upright and they slept at least a little. We had a car seat once with a little tray thing in front and could use that as a staging area for feeding.
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Reader Comments
Mrs. Hill,
I can relate to your story! I flew from Manchester to Newark with my 18 month-old-son (a few years ago). I had an FAA approved car seat and I paid a huge sum of money for my son’s own seat on the flight. The flight attendants were extremely rude to me and kept demanding to know if I had reserved a seat for my son (yes) and kept insisting that I should have checked the car seat. As if I wanted to fly across the Atlantic with a squirming toddler in my lap, much less put his safety at risk! Perhaps this is they way British flights are? Do you think maybe American flights are different?
- Ms. Hornbeek
- Apr 5, 01:03 PM
I left from the US to the UK in Jan. My daughter was 7 mo. at the time and had her car seat, getting on the plane in the US was normal, they didn’t even look twice that we had a car seat for her. I am going back to the US in August and now I am nervous. I was planning to buy a carseat for her since she will only be 14mo, but if they are going to take it away from me, I am not sure what to do. I do not want her riding on my lap for the 12hr straight flight back to the US :) I know once you get to the US, they don’t look twice when you have a carseat for your child, and that is the way it should be for every country :)
- Aleesha
- Apr 26, 05:42 AM
i recommend making a fuss if any airline denies you the use of an approved carseat. especially if you have already purchased a ticket for your child.
i recall all the way back in 1983 my mother went ballistic when japan air lines wouldn’t let her bring our carseat on the plane for my younger brother, he must have been around 1 at the time. they wound up putting us in first class.
i have flown all over the u.s. and just flew united to japan using a carseat for my son who is now 3. it is just a normal thing to do for americans and i believe that every airline out there has had their share of americans to deal with, so just demand that they accomodate your choice.
- eileen
- Jun 24, 05:55 AM
I am an American who has flown within the U.S several times with my son (now 2 1/2)using a car seat and never had a problem.
I also recommend standing your ground when it comes to using car seats on airplanes. This is your child’s safety we are talking about. Any flight attendent who is rude to you because of your concerns should be reported.
I recommend the “Sit n Stroll” for flights. Its very convenient (stroller and car seat in one)and FAA approved.
You can find it on the internet for about $200 USD
- Krystol
- Jul 21, 06:21 AM
How can I find a car seat that is FAA Approved? We are expecting our first child in February and plan to travel a lot to visit extended family. I can only find car seats that say Airline Certified but not FAA Approved. Any suggestions appreciated.
- Mari
- Sep 30, 12:56 PM
Make sure your car seat will fit on the plane’s seats before traveling!!! You can go to seatguru.com and find the type of plane and airline and it will tell you seat width. Unless you’re traveling business or first class, most seats today are 17 inches wide. Only a few car seats are that narrow (I think Graco Comfort Sport and Britax Roundabout), most are 19 inches. So check your car seat and the airplane you will fly before showing up at the airport….
- marvalin
- Nov 7, 11:10 AM
I had to be a wet noodle, but airplane travel is incredibly safe. I would be surprised if anyone can come up with an instance of an lap-seated infant being harmed in an airline accident, when the child would have been OK in a car seat.
Tens of thousands of planes take off and land each day without incident (in the US, at least)
Life is about taking calculated risks. For example, it imagine it is much more dangerous to drive an hour in a car with a child in an infant seat, than to fly an hour with a child in the lap. Yet, people take their infants in car seats.
If you want to spend money protecting your child, there have got to be better ways to do it: buy organic food (perhaps?), pay for a higher-quality baby-sitter or child-care provider.
- Shawn
- Apr 12, 05:17 PM
commenting closed for this article
We travelled from Gatwick U.K to Rhodes, Greece last year with our 9 month old baby. We made several phonecalls to the airline before we travelled to make sure that the car seat we bought specifically to use on the plane was suitable. We were told it was. On the way into the plane they took the car seat from us and insisted that my baby was to be on my lap for takeoff even though we had bought her own seat on the plane to use the car seat on.
I was in tears as we took off, worried in case we had to emergency stop and I crushed my baby. The stewardess called me stupid and said that could never happen!
I was prepared to leave the plane but my family insisted we carried on.
I still have yet to find any car seat in the U.K that has an FFA sticker on it.